He pushed another finger inside, entering her with little effort. He worked his fingers, stretching her and Cora tried hard not to wiggle or squeeze.
Rhys let out another rushed breath. “You’re clamping around me.”
“I can’t help it.”
“Not a complaint.” He swallowed.
The blunt tip of Aithan’s cock took the place of his fingers, nudging hard against her, seeking entry.
“Breathe,” Aithan said, his voice soft. “Breathe and relax. You’re going to love this.”
She already knew she would. She was starting to shake again, as nerves fizzed and flared and made muscles quiver in response.
Aithan pressed again and then he was suddenly inside. He paused, with the tip of his cock just within. Cora could feel herself adjusting to the sensation of being spread open. Her muscles relaxed.
Then, very slowly, he moved deeper inside.
Cora tried to breathe. Tried to focus. But all she could do was pant as the two cocks seemed to spread her and fill her. All control had deserted her. She was trembling.
“Now sit up,” Aithan said. “Slowly.”
“I don’t think I can,” Cora whispered. “My muscles have all melted.”
“The gentleman beneath you can do all the work,” Aithan said. It sounded like he was smiling.
Rhys grinned and sat up. Slowly. It brought them both up into a sitting position, with Rhys and Aithan still lodged inside her.
Cora let out a shaking breath as she felt Aithan settle up against her back. Her breasts were pressed against Rhys’ chest, her thighs around his hips.
For a moment they were all still, absorbing the sensation of being joined together.
“I can feel you inside her,” Rhys said wonderingly.
“I think this might be addictive,” Cora breathed. She looked at Aithan over her shoulder. “No one ever demanded a repeat performance from you, Aithan? Ever?”
“I’ve never done this before,” he said.
The little silence fell again.
“A ménage?” Rhys clarified. He sounded puzzled. “You never took more than one person to bed?”
“Many times. Two women. Two men. But never this. Never joined this way.”
Cora rested her head against Rhys’ shoulder. She didn’t know what to say.
“I think I’m falling in love with you,” Rhys said.
She lifted her head and looked at him and Rhys kissed her gently. “I’ve always been half in love with you.” He looked at Aithan. “But now I think I’m half in love with you.”
Aithan’s expression was one of bewilderment. “But…you can’t. Not me.”
It was Aithan’s stunned face and Rhys’ gentle kiss. Combined, they caught at Cora’s throat. Her eyes prickled hard and tears gathered. Rhys wiped her cheeks as they spilled. “Hey,” he said, alarmed.
She shook her head. “As soon as you said it, I knew,” she whispered. “I love you both. But….” Her tears came harder. “I never wanted to fall in love with anyone,” she said. There, it was out. Spoken aloud.
“Why not, ma chérie?” Aithan asked, his voice gentle.
“My…my family.”
Rhys wiped her cheeks again. “Are they still alive?”
“All of them. I think. I haven’t been back since I was turned, five years ago. It was part of the deal, part of the conditions when they turned me. But I was glad to accept. Glad to get away.”
“Southern families, some of the older ones,” Aithan said. “They can be very large.”
“Mine is one of the oldest in Texas,” Cora admitted. “We counted fourth cousins as close kin and love was used as leverage to keep us all towing the family line.”
Both of them grew still. Rhys just watched her.
“I broke my neck climbing out of a third floor window in my wedding dress,” Cora whispered.
“You wanted to get away from them that much?” Aithan asked.
“The wedding wasn’t my idea. But my father explained that I had to go through with it. If I loved him…if I loved my family, I would do what was best for them. I found myself in satin and lace and four hundred guests, most of them family, in the parlor below. So I climbed out of the window and slipped.” She swallowed. “I woke up in Austin, twenty-four hours later. My long lost and most favorite cousin Braydon was sitting on the bed opposite me. I thought he’d died.”
“But he’d been turned,” Rhys concluded.
“And he’d sneaked back into town to watch the wedding. He watched me fall and took me away before anyone knew what had happened. Then he turned me and gave me a choice.”
“Death, or eternal separation from your family,” Rhys guessed.
“It wasn’t a hard choice.” She tried to smile.
“That’s why you don’t like other supernaturals moving into Erie,” Aithan said. “You get to be as human as you want if there’s no one around to remind you you’re not. You get to be alone and independent.”
“Alone and able to make my own decisions. Except here I am being pulled around by an invisible force, inside a world I never really wanted to join.”
They were both silent. Tense.
Cora picked up Aithan’s hand, pulling his arm over her shoulder and smiled at Rhys as she kissed Aithan’s palm. “That’s what I was so wrong about,” she added.
Aithan turned her chin and kissed her cheek. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then let’s seal the bond now.”
Rhys drew in a long, slow breath. “Yes. It’s time,” he said flatly. He lifted his arm. “A sip for each of us. Right?”
“I should go first,” Cora said, lifting her wrist to her mouth.
“Why?” Rhys asked, puzzled.
“If what I hear is true,” Aithan said, “then Cora biting into either of us is likely to bring an instant end to the joining.”
Rhys still looked puzzled.
“There’s an aphrodisiac in my bite,” Cora explained. “You’ll come almost instantly.” She hesitated. “And there’s another reason.” She looked away and let her teeth descend.
“Don’t hide,” Aithan said quickly. “I want to see.”
“Me, too,” Rhys added.
Cora found it very difficult to look at either of them, until Rhys slid his fingers across her cheek. “It won’t make me love you any less,” he said gently.
It gave her the courage to look at him. She lifted her wrist to her mouth and deliberately let her lip lift to show the incisors, then bit into her flesh. The tearing sensation barely registered. Neither did the blood, which was hers. She held her arm out to Rhys. “Quickly, before it heals over. Just a sip.”
He placed his mouth over the wound and she felt him draw the blood into his mouth. He straightened up, his lips touched with it.
“You have to swallow,” Aithan told him.
Rhys nodded and his throat worked as he complied. Then he cleared his throat. “It doesn’t taste like I thought blood would.”
Cora brought her healed wrist back to her mouth. This time, she found it easier to bite with Rhys watching. She reopened the wound and held her arm up to Aithan, swaying sideways so she could look at him.
He didn’t hesitate. His lips pressed against her flesh and he drew a mouthful from her, then swallowed. His thumb brushed over her wrist as the flesh healed and the wound disappeared. “Delightful,” he declared.
“Now you,” she told Aithan. “You’re not human. The aphrodisiac may be blunted. And besides, you’ve had a lot of practice holding yourself off from…well…”
Aithan smiled. “Never a truer word,” he said and held up his wrist. “I don’t know what I will taste like.”
“Let’s see.” Cora bit into his wrist, right over where the big vein should be.
Aithan groaned and she felt his cock throb inside her. Her body responded with a tingling.
Blood moved sluggishly from his wrist and she drew it into her mouth. She had no reaction to it. It had ve
ry little taste. She swallowed and lifted her mouth away and looked at the wound. “Red!”
Aithan looked at as well. His mouth opened and his eyes widened. “It’s red,” he repeated, dazed.
“What is it supposed to be?” Rhys asked. “Black?” He said it jokingly.
Cora glanced at him and his expression sobered. “I see.”
She drew Aithan’s arm farther over her shoulder, holding his wounded wrist out toward Rhys. “Drink,” she said.
He brought his hand under Aithan’s wrist and leaned over it…and hesitated.
“You have to drink,” Cora urged him.
He looked up at Aithan. “Will it hurt me?” he asked.
“And now we come to the crux of it,” Aithan said. His voice was tight, hard. “You think you’re in love, but you can’t commit, when it comes right down to it.”
Rhys immediately pressed his mouth to Aithan’s wrist and sucked. He swallowed without hesitation, then pulled on Aithan’s arm, drawing him even closer as Cora bent out of the way. Rhys kissed Aithan and held his head. “I do love you. But you are a demon. If I curl up and die because of your blood, I’ll haunt you the rest of your life. And don’t tell me there’s no such things as ghosts. Not with a demon and a vampire in the same room with me.”
Aithan let his head rest against Rhys’ for a moment. Then he sat up and looked at Cora. “Rhys’ turn. I’ll watch you.”
“Watch her for what?” Rhys asked sharply, his arm lowering.
Cora’s heart fluttered.
“She’s never tasted human blood before,” Aithan said calmly. “Vampires have been using synthetic blood for about thirty years now. The taste of real blood might trigger a reaction.”
Rhys shook his head. “It has to be done.” He held his wrist up toward her.
Cora lifted it up to her mouth. “Brace yourself,” she told him.
Aithan laughed.
She bit and tore and Rhys immediately tensed. His pelvis lifted and he drove into her even more deeply. His eyes closed and he gasped.
“Drink,” Aithan urged her. “Hurry.”
It was difficult to draw the thick liquid into her mouth and Cora knew she was afraid.
“If he climaxes before you drink, we’ll have to start again,” Aithan urged.
She sucked quickly and Rhys groaned again. He was trembling, his cock shifting inside her.
Then the ambrosial taste of the blood registered. She had drunk mulled wine once at a party in New England and this had the same pleasure about it. Spicy, hot and delicious. Endlessly drinkable.
“Cora!” Aithan was shaking her.
Cora let go of Rhys’ wrist, horror washing through her.
“It’s all right. You only took a bit,” Aithan assured her. He picked up Rhys’ wrist and brought it to his mouth. He drank quickly.
Rhys still had his eyes closed. Sweat sheened at his temples.
Aithan put his hand back on the bed. “Now, Rhys,” he said softly.
Rhys gasped and gripped Cora’s hips. His eyes opened. The blue had never seemed more pure and intense. Aithan’s hands came down over Rhys’
They both held her as they drove themselves into her. Her body instantly caught fire and she gasped as her climax began to build. She had no control over her body at all. All she could do was let the pleasure take her as Rhys and Aithan thrust together.
Her orgasm was intense, tearing through her, searing nerve ends and grabbing at her throat as she lifted her chin and screamed, her voice strained with the power of it.
She was gripping and squeezing both of them, her internal muscles milking them and they came with heavy groans, their fingers digging into her.
For long moments they stayed still and Cora listened to the two hearts beating on either side of her. Contentment filled her.
To me! Trinities, to me! It was Seaveth’s voice in her head, like a mental hook, dragging Cora out of their arms and onto the cover, scrambling to find her feet and run. “Seaveth! The Grimoré are attacking! We have to go! Hurry!”
Rhys and Aithan rolled off the bed and while Cora’s heart hammered out the passing seconds, they hurried downstairs and dressed. Rhys pulled out his gun and Cora grabbed the knife from the chopping block in the kitchen and held her arms out to them. “Hurry, hurry!” she urged.
“Convenient timing,” Aithan observed as he stepped into her arm.
“Deliberate timing, I’m sure,” Rhys said. “They wanted to stop the bonding. They don’t know it’s too late yet.”
Cora pulled him to her. “Hold on,” she warned them and jumped.
Chapter Ten
Cora looked around at the fir trees and the dark night sky as Aithan and Rhys moved to either side of her. “Why, this is the south end of Erie.” Through the trees, she could see the cleared and worked-over land where a building corporation was starting a development. There was no one there now, for it was past midnight. There was just the orange glow of sodium arc security lights, running off their own generator.
Then she became aware of the low animal growling behind her and turned. They were standing in a natural clearing, filled with old, burned out trees. There was grass and stumps everywhere, but the forest hadn’t grown over the fire scars yet.
On the other side stood a row of Grimoré, their pale faces almost glowing in the little bit of moonlight filtering through the trees. Behind them, among the trees themselves, darker shadows moved.
Vampeen. Lots of them.
Cora gripped her knife.
“Cora, Aithan, Rhys, welcome,” Seaveth said.
On the same side of the clearing they were on, Seaveth stood with many others. On her left was Lindal. Over by a petite Hispanic woman was the man they had called Wyatt. All of them held weapons.
“You have sealed the bond?” Seaveth asked.
“Barely,” Aiden said dryly.
“How did you even know the Grimoré were here?” Cora asked.
“Ferr warned us,” Lindal said.
Seaveth nodded toward the grim array of Grimoré. “They were not expecting us, though,” she said. “Which is why we stand at this impasse. They’re reconsidering.”
“You don’t have a weapon, Aithan,” Lindal said, sounding concerned.
Aithan seemed amused. “I don’t need one.”
“I can see,” Rhys muttered. “Colors, details. What the hell?”
“You are your trinity’s hunter, Rhys,” Seaveth said calmly. “All your senses will be enhanced, now.”
He pulled out his Browning and cocked it. “Good,” he said shortly, staring at the Grimoré.
“Beth?” Lindal asked quietly.
“Do we attack?” she said, as if she was repeating something Lindal had said. “It’s a novel question.” She lifted her long knife. “Let’s attack. I’m sick of being on the back foot.”
Cora lifted her cleaver and glanced at Rhys and Aithan. “Together,” she said.
“Always,” Rhys said.
They ran for the Grimoré.
* * * * *
They returned to Cora’s townhouse as dawn was threatening, turning the lake water pink and red to match the clouds overhead.
“Red in the morning, shepherd’s warning,” Aithan said, looking through the window.
“If I don’t get some sleep in the next little while,” Rhys said, “the warning will be about me.”
Cora drew him into the en suite and turned on the shower for him. “First, wash off the blood,” she said. “The bed will be waiting for you when you’re done.”
He caught her wrist. “Shower with me.” He looked over her shoulder. “Both of you.”
There was barely room for the three of them, so they clung together, letting the steaming hot water cascade over their shoulders, washing each other as far as they could reach.
Cora and Aithan led Rhys to bed and Aithan slid under the covers with Rhys. “I’ll stay with him,” he told Cora.
Rhys look startled, but he dropped his head onto the pillow with a
sigh. “Too tired to argue,” he said.
Aithan pulled him over on to his other side. “I can see you’ve never slept with anyone before.” He curled his body around Rhys’ and tucked his arm over his waist. “Now sleep,” he murmured.
Cora smiled. “I think he already is,” she whispered, studying Rhys’ relaxed face and closed eyes. “I’ll get you some breakfast.”
“That sounds like paradise,” Aithan whispered back.
She smiled and crept away to the kitchen to make bagels. The dough was proving when Rhys cried out.
“Cora! Get up here!”
She moved faster than she ever had in her life, far faster than a human could, reaching the bedroom a bare few seconds later.
Rhys was kneeling on the end of the bed. The covers had been thrown violently to one side.
Aithan sat on the floor with his back against the end of the bed. His arms were wrapped around his drawn up knees like he was cold. He was staring sightlessly ahead.
“He woke me,” Rhys said. “Throwing himself about. Then he curled up there.”
Cora sat next to Aithan, feeling the surprising heat of him once more. “Rhys,” she said softly, picking up Aithan’s hand and holding it. He didn’t resist her grip.
Rhys settled on Aithan’s other side and held his other hand. “Hey,” he said softly. “Aithan.”
“What’s wrong?” Cora asked. “Tell us so we can help you.”
The shivering became a shuddering. Then he drew in a ragged, tortured breath. “I can remember.” His breath hiccupped.
Cora could feel the tension in his hand. “Remember what?”
His shuddering grew worse. “I remember being human.” His voice was strained. “All of it. The deal with the devil. Me…for my little sister. I remember how he laughed. Oh, God…” He closed his eyes, but that didn’t stop real tears squeezing out from under them, to run down his face.
Rhys swallowed. “Damn,” he breathed.
“I remember what love is,” Aithan whispered. He smiled despite the tears. “I remember love.”
The Second Trinity Page 10